


It's Good to be Home

by NotesFromSarah



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Hair Brushing, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28554486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotesFromSarah/pseuds/NotesFromSarah
Summary: While Kanan tries to repair his blaster, Hera is curious about his hair. When she plays with it Kanan realizes he’s finally found what he’s been looking for. Kanan/Hera. Set beforeStar Wars: Rebels. One-shot. Canon Compliant.
Relationships: Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla
Kudos: 38





	It's Good to be Home

Kanan sat on the floor, back against his bunk, blaster pieces spread out around him in circle. Something was making his blaster trigger delay by almost a second and he absolutely had to fix that. He looked over at the door a moment before it opened to reveal Hera framed in the doorway.

"Hey," he said, crooking a smile at her before looking back to his blaster.

"Hey," she said back, coming into the room, letting the door slide shut behind her. "You busy?"

Kanan furrowed his brow as he tried to pry apart two very interlocked pieces. "A bit, you need me for something?"

"Nothing that can't wait." Hera leaned over to see exactly what Kanan was working on. She watched him for a moment as he attempted to reduce the blaster to its components. "Is that the one that was giving you all the trouble earlier?"

"Yeah," Kanan grunted, wiggling the pieces against each other. He wanted to get this apart without breaking anything.

Hera gazed around at the strewn pieces, if the blaster required this much disassembly it might be a lost cause. "We have plenty of blasters, you can get another one if you want."

"And abandon my faithful friend?" Kanan said jokingly as he looked back up at her. "Hera, I owe my life to this weapon, the least I could do is show him a little loyalty."

Hera smiled. Kanan, trying to save the unsavable, it was something he just couldn't stop doing even though he tried. It was one of her favorite things about him.

"Hera," Kanan looked back to his blaster bits.

"Hm?" Hera was enjoying watching him manipulate the small pieces between his fingers.

Kanan glanced back at her. "You're standing in my light."

Hera laughed lightly and stepped onto Kanan's bunk, settling behind him cross-legged. "This better?"

"Much," Kanan said as he finally got the pieces separated. Picking up a small circular piece from the ground he showed it to her. "You know about these things, do you think this is supposed to look this way, or do I need to replace it?"

Hera studied the part for a second. "Well, I don't think it was originally worn through right there, or covered in so much build up."

"That's what I thought." Kanan put the piece back on the floor and looked at the myriad of tiny parts. "You know, I'm not even sure what half of these things are called. That's what comes of people not building their own weapons anymore, they don't even know what goes into them and it makes them impossible to fix."

Hera raised an eyebrow even though Kanan couldn't see it. "Did people ever build their own weapons?"

"Some did."

Those two words were somehow heavier than Hera had expected. Kanan could be hard to read sometimes, but she was beginning to get a sense for the code he was written in. Reaching out a gentle hand, Hera began to massage Kanan's shoulders. "I'm sure you'll get it working again. We have a lot of spare parts in storage, we can check there."

"Thanks," said Kanan, his attention now taken up by the trigger housing. He was sure the problem began here, all he had to do was figure out what it was. The firm strokes of Hera's fingers on his shoulders started to work through his concentration. "That sure feels good."

Hera smiled, she thought it would. "You know, sitting on the floor and hunching over blasters isn't good for your back."

Kanan laughed a little. "Yeah, I suppose not. I just started fiddling with it here and kind of got carried away."

Hera ran her fingers up Kanan's shoulder, brushing them over the exposed skin of his neck. "So, what's the problem exactly?"

Kanan felt a pleasurable little shiver snake down his spine. He loved having Hera's hands on him. "Something to do with the trigger relay, I think there might be some buildup in there, or maybe the wiring went bad, it might have gotten overheated too, we'll see."

"Mhm," Hera nodded. Kanan was probably on the right track with it, he was very handy when it came to weapons. "Are you planning on just fixing it, or do you intend to give it a power upgrade too?"

Kanan closed his eyes and relaxed into Hera's hands for a moment, thinking about her question. "I hadn't really thought about it, I suppose giving him a little extra juice isn't a bad idea though." He was pretty sure he could amp up the power at least a little bit without running the risk of melting his blaster on the first shot.

Hera focused her massage on Kanan's neck, running her fingers into his hairline. "Well, if you're going to all the trouble of taking the whole thing apart, you might as well give it a boost while you're at it."

Kanan sighed, Hera's fingers felt divine. Her hands were so strong and sure of themselves, just like Hera was. She was always looking to the future, thinking about progress, how to make things better. Sometimes he wished he could be more like her. For a long time it never felt safe to think about anything else than right now. Opening his eyes again he looked back to the trigger housing. "I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. First things first, however."

Hera teased her fingers over the back of Kanan's neck, she knew he was especially sensitive back there. She could feel his slight reaction under her fingertips. He was loving this. Feeling his smooth hair under her fingers she considered it for a moment. Hair was so alien to her, it was a novelty to see and touch. Kanan had allowed her to touch it a couple of times before which she always found thrilling and exotic. She looked at the tie that held his hair back and ran a finger over it. "Kanan, can I take this off?"

Kanan glanced over his shoulder looking her up and down. "Take what off?"

"The tie for your hair, can I take it off?"

Kanan gave her a roguish smile. "You got my hopes up for a second there."

Hera suppressed a smile and rolled her eyes. "Tell your hopes to go back down, I want to touch your hair is all."

Kanan sighed in mock disappointment and turned back to his trigger with a shrug. "Sure, whatever you like."

Hera stuck a finger into the tie and tried to loosen it as gently as possible. Kanan had told her that hair had no nerve endings, but at the same time pulling on a human's hair hurt them, so she wasn't sure what to think exactly. The tie was secured quite well and didn't give way to her gentle prods.

"You're gonna have to pull a little harder than that, Hera. It's tied pretty tight." No matter how many times Kanan had reassured her that she wasn't going to be able to hurt his hair she never seemed to believe him. "Remember, the hair is dead and can't feel anything." That being said, she'd only ever run her hands through his hair a couple of times, so maybe her hesitancy wasn't that surprising.

Changing course, Hera looped her finger under the hair tie and give it a firm yank. After all, Kanan said it was okay. The tie came loose and Kanan swore.

"Ouch, Hera, not that hard." Kanan, wincing, put a hand to his head where the sharply pulled hairs still stung. "What are you trying to do, make me bald?"

Hera stared at the hair tie with several strands of brown hair attached to it. Apologetic, she looked back at Kanan. "I'm so sorry, I thought you said it couldn't feel anything." Hera had a visceral moment where she imagined how it would feel if someone had yanked that hard on one of her lekku. She tried to suppress the shudder. "Are you hurt?"

"I'll live." Kanan rubbed his head and tried to remember what he had been doing before the attempted hair removal. "The hair can't feel anything, but my scalp, to which the hair is attached, absolutely can." After another moment of soothing his yanked hair he managed a smile for Hera. "I guess I shouldn't have told you to pull."

Hera patted his head softly, still feeling bad. "Does it still hurt?"

Kanan shook his head. "Nah, it's okay now. A few pulled hairs don't hurt that bad. It's not nearly as bad as if someone was rough on your head tails."

Hera relaxed, still feeling a little apologetic. She wished she had a better scale of how hair related pain worked. A sharp yank hurt enough to provoke a strong reaction, but it wasn't bad enough to hurt for very long. Humans were certainly strange creatures. Running her fingers into his hair she very gently teased them over his head.

Kanan felt another delightful shiver race through him. Hair pulling aside, Hera was a goddess when she touched him. Her fingers traced over the contours of his head and wove into his hair making the most pleasurable sensations flush through him. He looked at the blaster part in his hand and for the life of him couldn't remember what he'd been doing with it.

Hera leaned forward and blew gently on the back of his neck. She could see he was enjoying this.

Kanan was beginning to think the blaster might have to wait for another day. This felt more delightful than it had any right to. Her hands caressed behind his ear and over the nape of his neck when one of her fingers hit a snarl causing him to grunt.

"Did I hurt you again?" Hera was beginning to think maybe she should stop trying to play with Kanan's hair at all. He was always so careful when he stroked her lekku but she couldn't seem to stop hurting him.

"No, it's just a tangle, it happens sometimes. If you want you could brush my hair." Kanan wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea to let someone who had no concept of hair brush his, but this felt so good he didn't want it to end.

Hera leaned over and fished his hairbrush out of a small box of personal items he kept under his bunk. "Anything I should know before I start?"

"Just take it easy and start at the ends," Kanan advised. "If you run into a tangle, work it out gently."

"Humans are sure complicated," Hera teased as she delicately meshed the bristles into Kanan's hair. "Having all this hair to take such special care of."

"You should see the grooming rituals they have on Kashyyyk." Kanan laughed. "I don't know how they have time to do anything but comb their hair."

Hera smiled at the thought, the brush working further up the shafts of Kanan's hair. The soft, brown tresses flowed over the spiky bristles coming out smooth as silk. When the brush caught a snag she was able to detangle it out without incurring any further trauma on Kanan's head.

Kanan relaxed completely. He closed his eyes, his blaster project forgotten. He leaned his head back on Hera's lap so that she could brush his entire scalp. Most of the time his hair was something that just _was_ , nothing special. He washed it, brushed it and pulled it back, nothing fancy. Right now, however, it was nothing short of amazing. Her gentle ministrations sent a ripple of warmth and anticipation through him, but most of all he felt safe. A long time ago, in another life, someone had cared for his hair. He remembered the frequent haircuts and the gentle fingers. He didn't know what it was like to have a mom, people like him didn't have those things, but that didn't matter. What he did know was what it was like to be cared for, to be safe, to feel at home somewhere. He had spent a long time looking for that again after the end of the war. Right here, right now, he had it. And this time, nothing was going to take it away from him. He took in a breath and let out a contented sigh. He was home.

Opening his eyes he looked up into Hera's face. She smiled at him with that smile that was the best in the entire galaxy. His heart skipped a beat just seeing it. "Hera?" Kanan wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to say, part of him just loved saying her name.

"Yes, dear?" Hera laid aside the brush and wove her fingers into his hair again.

"It's good to be home."


End file.
